How Not to Marry a Duke
(2026)(The third book in the Once Upon a Legacy Regency Romance series)
A novel by Marjorie Adams
She's perfected the art of being needed but not wanted.He's returned from war with 43 love letters he never sent.Too bad he forgot to mention his fiancée.
Lady Florinda Ashbourne has spent seven years transforming from a wild, impulsive girl into the perfect spinster aunt. At twenty-five, she manages the royal nursery, organizes everyone's lives, and absolutely never thinks about the Duke who danced with her twice and vanished to play soldier.
Frederick Rothford, Duke of Edington, returns from the Napoleonic Wars carrying two things: a hero's reputation and forty-three unsent love letters to the only woman he's ever loved. But the spirited girl who once kissed him "for scientific purposes" has been replaced by a woman who barely acknowledges his existence.
Determined to restore Florinda's wild spirit and win her heart, Frederick launches a calculated campaign of sunrise rides, scandalous waltzes, and strategic letter delivery. There's just one small problem he forgot to mention...
He's been engaged to someone else since he was two years old.
Now Florinda thinks he's exactly like the poet who jilted her via newspaper announcement, his perfect fiancée is planning their wedding, and the King of England has challenged him to a duel at dawn. With the help of meddling sisters, a pregnant stepmother's terrible matchmaking, and possibly some light blackmail, Frederick has exactly four days to:
Lady Florinda Ashbourne has spent seven years transforming from a wild, impulsive girl into the perfect spinster aunt. At twenty-five, she manages the royal nursery, organizes everyone's lives, and absolutely never thinks about the Duke who danced with her twice and vanished to play soldier.
Frederick Rothford, Duke of Edington, returns from the Napoleonic Wars carrying two things: a hero's reputation and forty-three unsent love letters to the only woman he's ever loved. But the spirited girl who once kissed him "for scientific purposes" has been replaced by a woman who barely acknowledges his existence.
Determined to restore Florinda's wild spirit and win her heart, Frederick launches a calculated campaign of sunrise rides, scandalous waltzes, and strategic letter delivery. There's just one small problem he forgot to mention...
He's been engaged to someone else since he was two years old.
Now Florinda thinks he's exactly like the poet who jilted her via newspaper announcement, his perfect fiancée is planning their wedding, and the King of England has challenged him to a duel at dawn. With the help of meddling sisters, a pregnant stepmother's terrible matchmaking, and possibly some light blackmail, Frederick has exactly four days to:
- Break a twenty-three-year-old betrothal contract
Convince a woman who's given up on love to trust him
Avoid death by royal sword
Prove that sometimes the best way to marry a duke is to first do everything wrong
A delightfully witty Regency romance about second chances, the courage to choose love over safety, and the difference between being needed and being truly wanted.
Note: This book contains a hero who climbs ivy in a rainstorm, a heroine who teaches children inappropriate songs about dukes, more terrible suitors than anyone deserves, and exactly forty-three love letters that will make you swoon. Heat level: 2/5 - Passionate kisses and yearning but no explicit scenes.
Genre: Historical